Miguel Cabrera gives Tigers three straight AL MVPs, earning the honor for a second straight year

Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera celebrates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Sunday, July 21, 2013, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

There were a lot of lean years in Detroit, when a horrible product put on the field by the Tigers soured a whole generation of fans on the game of baseball.

It’s almost hard to remember how bad those years were, considering how good the last few have been.

Two trips to the World Series in six seasons. Four trips to the playoffs. Three division titles. Most Valuable Players. Cy Young Award winners.

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As former manager Jim Leyland said often, we’ve been spoiled lately.

Miguel Cabrera continued that surfeit of riches on Thursday, winning his second straight American League Most Valuable Player Award, making the Tigers the first team since the 1960s to take home three straight.

That followed on the heels of Max Scherzer winning the Cy Young a night earlier, along with Justin Verlander (2011 Cy Young and MVP) giving the Tigers two out of three in that honor as well.

“Yeah, yeah, this is awesome. This is very special for me, and Max. This is special for Detroit, for the Tigers, for the whole city of Detroit, because we can’t win the World Series this year, but we do something special. Win the Cy Young, win the MVP in the same year, that’s the same like when Verlander win the MVP and the Cy Young (in 2011),” Cabrera said. “That’s unbelievable, and that’s a good sign. We got a great team for a lot of years. Hopefully we can keep it together, and be successful every year.”

It is unbelievable.

Unbelievable that this is the same place where it was once nearly impossible to attract free agents, a place where the team threatened the big-league record for losses in a season just a decade ago.

Now, the Tigers have three straight MVPs for the first time in franchise history, and became the first AL team to do it since the Yankees in 1960-’63. The last — and only other — Tigers player to win back-to-back MVPs was Hal Newhouser in 1944-’45.

It might have been harder for Cabrera to repeat this season, though, considering the competition was just as stiff or moreso, and he spent most of the last half of the season hobbling his way through a series of injuries.

That didn’t stop him from winning his third straight batting title, but it kept him from challenging for a second straight Triple Crown.

Cabrera beat out finalists Mike Trout of the Angels and Chris Davis of the Orioles, who won the other two legs of the Triple Crown, leading the majors in RBI and home runs in his breakout season. Cabrera was listed first on 23 of 30 ballots, and won by more than 100 points (385-282). Trout finished second for a second straight year.

“It’s great because, Trout, man — he’s by far the best player in the league. He got everything. So to be in the (discussion) with a guy that age it’s unbelievable. To be in the top MVP voting the last two years, and now with Davis, that’s very special,” Cabrera said. “I think if you win the MVP, you got to be happy, because I think all three guys deserve the trophy. That’s very nice, man, very nice to have this in my house.”

Cabrera was also the only one of the finalists to help his team to the postseason, as the Tigers won their third straight AL Central title. But his late season swoon — he hit .278 with one homer and seven RBI in September and .262 with two homers and seven RBI in 11 postseason games — were a large part of the reason the Tigers fell short of their World Series aspirations.

“It was the last two months. It was like — it was tough to play through that. But it was my job, like I said before, to play with that injury. It was like nothing help, but the operation,” said Cabrera, who had surgery to fix a sports hernia shortly after the season ended. “Put me on the 15-day disabled list, it’s not going to help, you know?

“It was like, ‘OK, let’s play through that, and see what happen.’ See if we have a chance to go far, see if we have a chance to go to the World Series.”

They did not, falling short in part because of bullpen woes, but in part because the offense, without an effective Cabrera, was not as potent.

Detroit went 13-13 in September, when the injuries were at their worst, averaging 3.73 runs per game — down nearly two full runs from earlier in the season — and were no-hit in the final game of the regular season.

His teammates were appreciative of him gutting through the pain.

“He wasn’t 100 percent for the whole last month and a half. In my book, that makes him every bit more the MVP than it would’ve otherwise,” Verlander said after the Tigers’ loss in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. “I think 90 percent of baseball players would’ve been sitting on the couch, not playing, dealing with what he’s dealt with this year.”

Verlander tweeted, in part, “Best player on the planet” after Cabrera’s honor was announced Thursday night.

That showed when he was not able to be himself.

The injury struggles made it that much more special for the Tigers’ slugger.

“Yeah, yeah. I think this year was tough with the injuries. I think it was very special. Early in the season, I come through, but in the last month I wasn’t able to do my job, like with one home run and seven RBI. I think it’s special because I put up better numbers with less games,” Cabrera said.
“Both, it was special, but it was like more tough this year.”

The second award puts Cabrera in an elite group.

He’s the 30th player to win multiple MVPs in either league, and the 11th to win in consecutive years.

“I’ve been blessed for all these moments in my career. I want to keep it going with my team, the Tigers, and hopefully we can keep things going to win another division and try to get to the World Series,” Cabrera said. “Hopefully next year, we can come through in the playoffs, and try to win a World Series for Detroit.”

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.

Detroit Tigers AL MVPs

1934 — Mickey Cochrane, C

1935 — Hank Greenberg, 1B

1937 — Charlie Gehringer, 2B

1940 — Hank Greenberg, OF

1944 — Hal Newhouser, P

1945 — Hal Newhouser, P

1968 — Denny McLain, P

1984 — Guillermo Hernandez, P

2011 — Justin Verlander, P

2012 — Miguel Cabrera, 3B

2013 — Miguel Cabrera, 3B

About the Author

Detroit Tigers beat writer for The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Michigan. Mowery has spent 18 years covering sports, from preps to pros. He’s been honored with more than 25 awards for writing. Reach the author at matt.mowery@oakpress.com
or follow Matthew B. on Twitter: @MatthewBMowery.